Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Mar;22(3):482-95. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21211.
The objective of this study was to investigate potential sex differences in the neural response to human bodies using fMRI carried out in healthy young adults. We presented human bodies in a block-design experiment to identify body-responsive regions of the brain, namely, extrastriate body area (EBA) and fusiform body area (FBA). In a separate event-related "adaptation" experiment, carried out in the same group of subjects, we presented sets of four human bodies of varying body size and shape. Varying levels of body morphing were introduced to assess the degree of morphing required for adaptation release. Analysis of BOLD signal in the block-design experiment revealed significant Sex x Hemisphere interactions in the EBA and the FBA responses to human bodies. Only women showed greater BOLD response to bodies in the right hemisphere compared with the left hemisphere for both EBA and FBA. The BOLD response in right EBA was higher in women compared with men. In the adaptation experiment, greater right versus left hemisphere response for EBA and FBA was also identified among women but not men. These findings are particularly novel in that they address potential sex differences in the lateralization of EBA and FBA responses to human body images. Although previous studies have found some degree of right hemisphere dominance in body perception, our results suggest that such a functional lateralization may differ between men and women.
本研究旨在使用 fMRI 技术在健康年轻成年人中探究对人体的神经反应是否存在潜在的性别差异。我们采用块设计实验呈现人体，以确定大脑中对人体有反应的区域，即外侧枕-额回（EBA）和梭状回（FBA）。在同一组被试中进行的另一个独立的事件相关“适应”实验中，我们呈现了四组不同体型和形状的人体。引入不同程度的人体变形，以评估适应释放所需的变形程度。在块设计实验中对 BOLD 信号的分析显示，EBA 和 FBA 对人体的反应存在显著的性别 x 半球交互作用。只有女性在 EBA 和 FBA 中对右侧半球的人体反应比左侧更强。与男性相比，女性右 EBA 的 BOLD 反应更高。在适应实验中，女性的 EBA 和 FBA 的右侧半球反应高于左侧，而男性则没有。这些发现特别新颖，因为它们解决了 EBA 和 FBA 对人体图像反应的侧化中潜在的性别差异问题。尽管之前的研究发现了身体感知的某种程度的右半球优势，但我们的结果表明，这种功能侧化在男性和女性之间可能有所不同。
